The weather forecast is reasonable, showery in the morning but picking up later, so tomorrow we’re out and about in some mountainous areas on the trail of some ancient stones. I’ve been working on some Fabriano paper in my home-made walnut ink and I’ll be taking some pieces to draw on. I like doing this prep beforehand, I don’t like working directly onto white, it’s inhibiting. Sandwiches made, biscuits packed, walking boots cleaned of the thick mud from last week, maps packed, ready to go………..

This piece …
It says so much about what it is to be an artist. Landscape painting is not about copying pretty countryside into pigment on canvas. It’s finding the essence. I don’t know what you intended, but I see clouds and fields and muck. More than my representative sketches, this feels like outdoors.

Thank you, Neil. This is a departure for me. I don’t normally work without reference material, a sketch, photo or working directly from life. I am am just being very free and holding on to feelings and thoughts while I am applying the pigment across the surface. I am not sure if that’s nearer to surrealism, expressionism or post impressionism. It’s certainly giving me a different and positive approach to the landscape. I think that maybe we have to push through the representational phase first.